2022 Application Thread

[historian2013]

Hi everyone

First reply but been lurking awhile and anxiously awaiting results. I just receive two rejections, but both from small programs that didn’t feel they’d fit my research goals (Wayne State and Western Michigan)

anyone else apply to Michigan State? 

[cafe0294]

Hello everyone, I saw that some students have posted acceptances from Stanford and Yale history programs. For people like me who have not heard from these universities does this mean that we have been rejected? Also, will the students from Stanford and Yale who got accepted share how they heard about this and what is their subfield? 

[esge]

4 hours ago, cafe0294 said:

Hello everyone, I saw that some students have posted acceptances from Stanford and Yale history programs. For people like me who have not heard from these universities does this mean that we have been rejected? Also, will the students from Stanford and Yale who got accepted share how they heard about this and what is their subfield? 

Hello. I don't know for acceptances at Stanford, but I just received an email from my PoI telling me that I am on the waitlist.

[MikhailM]

4 hours ago, cafe0294 said:

Hello everyone, I saw that some students have posted acceptances from Stanford and Yale history programs. For people like me who have not heard from these universities does this mean that we have been rejected? Also, will the students from Stanford and Yale who got accepted share how they heard about this and what is their subfield? 

I was very lucky to be accepted at Yale yesterday. I received an email from the DGS notifying me, but my portal has not updated yet. They said "letters should go out via the electronic application system next week." My POI also emailed shortly afterwards. Happy to answer other questions

[jpc34]

6 hours ago, historian2013 said:

Hi everyone

First reply but been lurking awhile and anxiously awaiting results. I just receive two rejections, but both from small programs that didn’t feel they’d fit my research goals (Wayne State and Western Michigan)

anyone else apply to Michigan State? 

Hey! I’m one of the two (edit: seems like four actually) Michigan State acceptances on the results page. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by jpc34

[Mathology]

Hello, I got a reject from Princeton University yesterday, but I am waiting on Stanford and U-WM. For Stanford, my POI reached out a few weeks ago to confirm that the department had nominated me, and the last hurdle is for the subfield to get a slot. With the acceptances for Stanford on the result page, I am yet to get any information from POI, any possible thoughts? Just curious!

[Akinokaze]

On 2/3/2022 at 4:21 PM, esge said:

Hi everyone,

First message here but I thought sharing my experience here might be helpful to some of you.

I applied to five programs. So far, I got a rejection from Brown (official update in the portal and notification by email). I am on the waitlist for JHU (email, the portal is not updated). I've been admitted to Princeton (email from the graduate program administrator on Feb, 2 and I received the official update in the portal a few hours ago) and Yale (Medieval Studies program. I got an email and the portal updated a day after). I am still waiting for Stanford.

My sub-field is medieval history.

I hope this helps. Good luck to all and don't hesitate if you have any questions.

Truly impressive, congratulations! Princeton and Yale  

[emeraldsapphire]

Congrats on Yale, @MikhailM! Happy to answer any questions about Yale/New Haven (I'm at Yale now). 

[historian2013]

4 hours ago, jpc34 said:

Hey! I’m one of the two (edit: seems like four actually) Michigan State acceptances on the results page. 

Did you hear via email/portal?

[jpc34]

26 minutes ago, historian2013 said:

Did you hear via email/portal?

I received an email with my offer letter attached. My portal hasn’t changed, still says under review with department. 

[historian2013]

5 minutes ago, jpc34 said:

I received an email with my offer letter attached. My portal hasn’t changed, still says under review with department. 

Ah ok. Congratulations!

 

im guessing since I haven’t heard, mine is a reject then. 

[jpc34]

10 minutes ago, historian2013 said:

Ah ok. Congratulations!

 

im guessing since I haven’t heard, mine is a reject then. 

Maybe. I get the impression that admissions there are quite subfield-based, maybe yours hasn’t been decided yet? I’m in modern Europe fwiw. 

[historian2013]

Just now, jpc34 said:

Maybe. I get the impression that admissions there are quite subfield-based, maybe yours hasn’t been decided yet? I’m in modern Europe fwiw. 

I’m in a weird spot because I’m American but also African (Uranium diplomacy and labor history). I’m finding it’s really hard to find a school that has the faculty for my research now that basically all the experts on the Belgian Congo have retired or died. 

[jpc34]

5 minutes ago, historian2013 said:

I’m in a weird spot because I’m American but also African (Uranium diplomacy and labor history). I’m finding it’s really hard to find a school that has the faculty for my research now that basically all the experts on the Belgian Congo have retired or died. 

Sounds interesting! Hope you get some good news soon.

[historian2013]

9 minutes ago, jpc34 said:

Sounds interesting! Hope you get some good news soon.

Thank you ♥️

[wluhist16]

12 hours ago, islandpoppy said:

Hi everyone, hoping I can get some answers here.

So I had my interview with Penn State 2 weeks ago. It went really well and my POI emailed me a few days after saying they were nominating me for acceptance. I haven't heard from the program or the university until today when they sent out an invitation for a virtual recruitment event.

I'm not sure how to approach the event. There was no mention of interviews, but they did say we have the opportunity to meet with faculty 1:1. Thinking of reaching out to faculty I haven't already spoken to, so I can get to know other professors. How much preparation should I put into this? Is this event them trying to get me to go to the school or am I still trying to convince them to offer me admission?

Hi, I'm a current Penn State student (although I'm a 6th year and about to finish). Please DM me and I can help answer your question in more detail. 

[TheGradCocaCola]

Do you believe that Columbia will send answers today?
In the admission season for Fall 2020 (which was the last for the PhD in History - last year they didn't open), the answers for those who were admitted came in on February 4th. For those who weren't so lucky, it was on the 7th.
I also remember someone mentioning here on the forum that this year they would take a little longer than in previous seasons.
Thanks.

[medievalpeasant]

What is everyone's opinion on the more interdisciplinary degrees like Medieval Studies as opposed to history? As a medieval historian, I get heavily mixed reviews. I would prefer a history degree and a lot of my professors have told me that if I want to teach, a history degree is better; however, a lot of POI's I spoke to heavily encouraged me to go into Medieval Studies instead since most of the medievalists seem to end up supervising MS degrees anyways. 

Does anyone have experience or know of how it is teaching at a university level with a MS degree rather than history?

[Akinokaze]

4 minutes ago, TheGradCocaCola said:

Do you believe that Columbia will send answers today?
In the admission season for Fall 2020 (which was the last for the PhD in History - last year they didn't open), the answers for those who were admitted came in on February 4th. For those who weren't so lucky, it was on the 7th.
I also remember someone mentioning here on the forum that this year they would take a little longer than in previous seasons.
Thanks.

Way to make me anxious! ?

I also noticed the date, but I have also taken note (as you mentioned) of that info about a supposed delay. So...Yeah, there's no way to know I guess. We just need to sit tight and see...

[Kashew_Nuts93]

For Columbia, as far as I could work out, in the past acceptances were sent out on every first Tuesday of February, if you go back through the years available on the results page you’ll find this to be the case in how they’re reported. This year nobody reported any on Tuesday but somebody else said that they are running behind their usual schedule so I wonder when we could expect to hear back. 
 

Sorry for some reason I can’t include quoted text @TheGradCocaCola

[Trail_Blazer]

I am also curious about the prospect of getting interdisciplinary degrees, but in my case, history of science & medicine. There are quite a few institutions like MIT HASTS, Harvard HoS, Yale HSHM, U of T IHPST, and so on; I have applied to some of them this cycle. How do you think of getting a PhD in such programs instead of, say, "History proper"? 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Trail_Blazer

[emeraldsapphire]

@medievalpeasant, I think generally, a PhD in a methodological discipline like History (or English etc) is preferable than an interdisciplinary degree insofar as you want to get hired in a disciplinary department (insofar as jobs in any department exist in the current market). However, for medieval, the Institute at ND is such a big name, you would be ok so long as you tailored your time there heavily toward History (or whatever relevant field): taking lots of History coursework (including methods courses), doing archival research, getting historians as letter writers etc. 

@Trail_Blazer, I don't know the field of History and Science/Medicine as well, but a high ranking program known for that field can, I think, help to compensate for interdisciplinary angles. And if everyone's basically doing "history proper" just geared toward a certain subject matter, then it's probably historically based enough anyway. 

So generally, if you're in an interdisciplinary program, the burden is on you to prove your historical chops. Others know more than me, though. 

[Mile6]

1 hour ago, Trail_Blazer said:

I am also curious about the prospect of getting interdisciplinary degrees, but in my case, history of science & medicine. There are quite a few institutions like MIT HASTS, Harvard HoS, Yale HSHM, U of T IHPST, and so on; I have applied to some of them this cycle. How do you think of getting a PhD in such programs instead of, say, "History proper"? 

I was trying to decide between HoS and History for several months last year. The truth is, every program is different, and what people study in history of science covers an incredibly wide range of topics. There are fewer jobs in HOS, but it is also significantly easier to get into programs (at least in terms of raw numbers of applicants and spots available). Historians of science also have a different range of jobs available after graduating, many of which are in the private sector and pay much better than history proper. The difference in graduate experience between HOS programs is significant too, and requires a lot of research. At Harvard, HOS and history are totally different departments; a friend there is totally miserable because she has to work quite hard to get attention from the history department and has run into some prejudices. At Yale, it’s a more integrated experience because HOS and History are the same department. HASTS is totally unique too. At some schools like Hopkins, history of medicine, history of technology, and history are three separate departments. Peers in HOS will come from non humanities backgrounds much more than in history. I recommend speaking to several historians of science and being totally honest about your research interests to help sort through what is right for you. It is a wonderful fit and experience for some people. In my case, history ended up being the right fit for me. Googling HOS fields/orals lists were also helpful in making these decisions. Looking at which scholarship resembled what I hope to write was helpful in figuring out which path was the best fit.

[Urbhist]

Hi all,

First time posting on here. I just received my first acceptance, which is great news! I have a meeting about graduation and future plans coming up with my advisor at my current university (which I have also applied to and not heard from yet) and am unsure if I should bring this up. Would mentioning that I had an offer from another university hurt my chances if the admissions committee at my current school is still deliberating? 
While I’m very happy with the offer I received , and know I’m lucky to even get 1 acceptance, I don’t want to tank my chances at my current school. 

[TheGradCocaCola]

Everytime I read this Reddit post I feel very bad, so I am sharing it here in case you want to feel bad too:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/96yf9h/monday_methods_why_you_should_not_get_a_history/

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by TheGradCocaCola